3 The crack was 6 to 7 inches .. it opened up early this morning on what's called the Overland Bridge on 95 Northbound .. which is in the midst of major road work. We've just learned the bridge will be closed until at least 9 O'clock tonight! Because of safety concerns .. police closed two on ramps ..Atlantic Blvd and Phillips Highway .. slowing drivers to a crawl in San Marco and Saint Nicholas. Crews have now been working all day to make repairs. We are covering this traffic mess from all angles. We begin with Mary who has a close up look at the damage: 3 3 3 The Department of Transportation has been evaluating the situation all day...Trying to make sure all drivers are safe and the road is repaired correctly...let's take a closer look at what's causing the mess... These are some pictures of the damage from the early morning hours... You can see the two concrete slabs separated from each other. This is what it looked like underneath - you can clearly see the crack. Construction crews started working on it right away - pulling up the concrete slab so they could replace it with new concrete. Channel 4's Elizabeth Campbell has been out there all day ... in fact she got caught in the traffic this morning... She joins us live...Elizabeth? 3 3 3 3 Lots of traffic at 95 NB ramp from Atlantic.Opening pushed back to 9 p.m. Because DOT says the erosion of the soil and base material that supports the road way was greater than they anticipated so they needed more time to prepare the area for placing the new concrete. 00-1050-57 TRACK - This is cell phone video we shot Thursday morning -- traffic, detour signs and police -- blocking the US-1 ramp to 95 Northbound. The Atlantic Boulevard ramp was also blocked after a pavement crack on I-95 Northbound at Montana Avenue early Thursday morning. As of 3:30, FDOT expected to be able to lay new concrete within the next few hours over the 6 to 7 inch crack that was caused by equipment vibrations while construction crews worked around 4 a.m. Thursday. The Florida Department of Transportation originally said the ramps would be open at 3 p.m., but later changed that to 5 p.m. ...and then they said 9:00. The reason for the long wait? -- FDOT says it takes quite a bit of time to lay the concrete -- and even more time for it to dry -- to a point safe enough to allow traffic on it.SOT - 1853 this was one of these unknown site conditions there was an unstable soil base under the pavement that we had no way of knowing that was there and the vibrations of the construction equipment caused the slab to crack and created the situation TRACK - The I-95 concrete crack led to traffic all around the area and drivers weren't the only ones who had to rearrange their plans -- businesses did too. Hendricks Avenue was a side road that saw a lot of congestion throughout the day. Jimmy John's is one of many businesses on that road. With their standard being "freaky fast delivery" -- they had to make sure they had enough drivers -- and that their customers stayed happy.SOT - 2629 if we feel like were not going to be living up to our stated standard which is freaky fast we will call someone and say hey there is gridlock out there and will probably take a couple extra minutes but we promise we will get to you as fast as we can 3 Avoid this area. If you typically take Atlantic or US-1 ramp get on the interstate at an exit before or after but try to avoid this area. The estimated 9 pm time could get pushed back a 4th time DOT says it depends on how quick the concrete dries and it has to meet certain strength standards. Elizabeth ... does the weather play any role in when it will reopen? Now to the traffic .. Morning commuters were the first to find themselves stuck in long delays. Some of them poured out their frustrations to Channel 4's Ashley Mitchem. 3 00-0827-35103-107117-120The ramp closures caused headaches for commuters this morning trying to figure out which way to go and how to get to their destination as quickly as possible.. Drivers say it was miserable sitting in traffic with nowhere to go.43:55 It's very backed up I've been in traffic almost an hour37:28 This is insane I've been trying to get to Baymeadows for one hour and 41 minsA Taxi driver who definitely knows the alternate routes says it didn't matter those were backed-up too.Richard Hoster, Taxi Driver 46:33 I would say it's really busy it takes you about 15 minutes to get like a mile from south of Philips to downtown it takes quite a while yeaEven with alternate routes traffic was so heavy- being late to work and appointments was inevitable.. 41:33 it's very frustrating because we're both trying to get our hair down and it's like we're supposed to be there at 9:30 and here it is 10 o'clock42:18 Traffic is horrendous this morning we're trying to make a meeting where I'm supposed to speak and I've had to call them and tell them I'll be lateChristian Diaz, Driver 36:49 me: what does it look like when you look around at the other cars a lot of people on their phones ... Him: pretty much probably doing the same thing I was doing calling into work saying I'm going to be lateMany drivers were clueless as to what was going on until they found themselves stuck in a mess.Frank Biden, Driver 34:35 me: did you know what was going on when you got in the car this morning? Him: not a clue and that's part of the frustration is there didn't seem to be signage to say what exactly is going onTo prevent getting stuck in traffic and not knowing where to go--the best thing you can do is download our news4jax application so you can get traffic alerts and updates straight to your phone and tablet. Ashley Mitchem Channel 4 THE Local Station.

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